Burundi court cuts journalist prison term over gun attack

* Journalists in Burundi targeted by prosecutors

* Reporter convicted after interview with rebel leader

* Lawyer says to appeal against new prison term

By Patrick Nduwimana

GITEGA, Burundi, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A court in Burundireduced a life sentence handed last year to a reporter accusedof complicity in a 2011 gun attack after finding him guilty of aless serious offence, an appeal judge said on Tuesday.

Deadly clashes last year between security forces and formermilitia fighters rocked the landlocked central African country,which had enjoyed relative peace since rebels laid down arms andjoined the government in 2009 after two decades of civil war.

Journalists have been targeted in a wave of detentions.Human Rights Watch said last year the government was trying torestrict efforts by independent media and civil society todenounce violence blamed on the state.

Hassan Ruvakuki, a reporter for Radio France Internationale(RFI) and a Burundi independent radio station, was arrested inNovember 2011, accused of involvement in the attack by militantson the eastern town of Cankuzo that was launched fromneighbouring Tanzania.

The prosecution had said Ruvakuki was complicit in theattack because he had travelled to Tanzania earlier that monthand interviewed the rebel group's proclaimed leader. He wasconvicted by a court of first instance in June last year.

"The court redefines the charges against Ruvakuki and sayshe is guilty of participation in an association formed for thepurpose of attacking people and property," said the head of theappeal court in the central province of Gitega, FulgenceRuberintwari.

"Consequently, the court sentences him to three years inprison," he told a crowd that included journalists and membersof the public who had come to hear the verdict.

Alexandre Niyungeko, chairman of the Burundi journalists'union, said he was shocked by the new verdict. One of Ruvakuki'slawyers said he would appeal to the Supreme Court.

"I am not happy with the judgement even if the penalty wasreduced," said the lawyer, Fabien Segatwa. "It is an unjustconviction."

Critics accuse President Pierre Nkurunziza's ruling party ofmonopolising power, appointing only members of one ethniccommunity, the Hutu, into positions of power and repressing theopposition, which boycotted elections in 2010.

The appeal court reduced the prison terms of 13 otherdefendants accused of being rebel fighters, who were convictedin the same case. Ten of them had their sentences cut to threeyears and three were given 20 years. Nine others had their lifeterms upheld.